Route Planning

Routes are strings of routepoints along which user is navigated during his activity - hiking, biking etc.

Routes are pre-planned, drawn on a map or imported and put into navigation devices so that we can travel along their lines. Tracks that were recorded by you or someone else can be turned into routes when we need to navigate them.

Routes can be drawn manually on the map or automatically by a router. Locus Map provides several methods of creating routes:

• Route planner - tool for manual and automatic drawing of routes with routing service assistance
• Changing tracks to routes - using tracks as routes for navigation

The planner can be started in several ways:

• Menu > Route planner
  
• Menu > Tracks > + > Route planner
  
• add function to the Function panel for quick launch
  
• Web route planner - you can plan routes also on a website and then sync it with your app

1. Drawing mode selector - select among various routing modes, or the manual mode. The currently active mode is indicated on the button.
2. add/remove route shaping points
3. back/forward - move along planning process steps
4. content panel - slides out a panel with a selection of maps and other layers
5. centering - centers the screen on your current GPS location
6. zooming - zooms the map in or out (buttons can be hidden in route menu > settings)
7. basic stats - length, estimated time, elevation gain/loss
8. graph tab switch opens the elevation chart and surface/way type graphs:
   
9. itinerary - dynamic list of shaping or via point on the route

The top bar - contains Save/Navigate button and the Route menu.

The route line consists of segments rendered between shaping points and via points inserted on the map screen.

• shaping point - basic point building the route, can be changed into via point.
• segment point - forms on the line between shaping points. Changes to a new shaping point when shifted. Indicates the activity for which the route segment was planned. Tapping it opens the option to re-calculate the segment in a different profile.
• via point - place through which you want to go during navigation. Its name is announced by voice navigation when you navigate the route.

When a routing mode is on, the line between points runs along roads and paths. If you choose to draw manually, the line is straight between points, unrelated to roads. You can use various routing profiles or manual segments between each point of the route according to your needs.

The route is built with shaping points added on map:

• by tapping (points are added on the cursor position)
• by tapping directly on the map (this option can be turned off in the route menu)

The route line, rendered between shaping points, contains also segment points . Both shaping and segment points can be moved on the map and the route is immediately re-rendered accordingly. You change a segment point into a shaping point, creating new segment points in between.

If you use the route planner for the first time, it will draw the route line in the walking profile. If you want to change it:

• tap the drawing mode button
• tap the routing profile button to open the selection
• select another routing profile
• set additional parameters if necessary and close the dialog
  

• , , etc. - the route line between shaping points is calculated by a router:
  
  
• the progress of the route depends on selected profile - car or bike routes run along roads, MTB or walking routes along paths etc.
  Each profile has additional parameters that influence the route progress - terrain difficulty, ferries, steps, cycle paths preference, wet conditions…:
  

All walking and cycling profiles provide an option to customize the way the app calculates your estimated time on the route. All except the road cycling profile base the calculation upon your average speed on flat ground:
Road cyclists define their power in Watts:

When checked, Locus creates also direction commands related to the new route which can be used for voice turn-by-turn navigation.

The router profiles are provided by the selected router. To change the router, tap the left part of the profile button and choose:

More about routers, routing profiles and their parameters >>

• useful in places not covered by routing data - when you need to go off-road and off-path (to cross a stream without a bridge or make a shortcut across a meadow…)
• useful for simple distance measurement

• - only plain line stretches between shaping points:
  

LoRouter Offline and GraphHopper routers also provide alternatives for planned route segments. Whereas GraphHopper always provides alternatives, it's necessary to turn this option on for LoRouter offline in settings > navigation > router:

Via points are places you want to go through when navigating the route - the voice navigation will notify you of them and in case of route recalculation the via points are not detoured.

Via points can be created out of shaping points, LoPoints, your own user points or by defining new points individually.

• tap a shaping point on the map or itinerary and select Change to from the bottom panel:
  
• tap the via point button
• rename the via point (optional) and confirm. Via point in the planner:
  
• after saving the route the via point is marked by an icon:
  

LoPoints can be added to your route too:

• tap a LoPoint on map
• select where to put it in the route - at the start, end or inside:
  
• when you select to add the LoPoint at the end:
  
• when you select to add it inside the route:
  

Your own interesting places or downloaded geocaches can be added to your route:

• display your selected points on map (Menu > Points > select whole folder or individual points)
• add them to your route the same way as LoPoints (see above):
  

• to remove last added shaping point, tap
• to reverse all edits (adding points, moving them), tap back button(see above, 3)
• to repeat reversed steps, tap forward button(see above, 3)

Shaping and via points are listed in the itinerary. Here you can perform several actions with them:

• change their order by dragging the left part of the list:
  
• change their location with the location selector:
  
• add via points to the itinerary:
  
  By tapping such a newly added point you can set its location by the location selector - by an address, coordinates, projection, etc.
• delete route points
• display route segment details with the option for recalculation in a different profile:
  

If you know a place on the route you can not go through but which is not reflected by the map or routing data - e.g. temporary roadblock, wood harvesting in the forest, flooded area, etc., tell the route planner to avoid it.

• shift the cursor on the spot you want to block and select Add no-go from the route menu:
  
• if necessary, set the means of transport the no-go area is valid for, the area radius (25, 50, 100, 500, 1000 m) and time of validity (tap the no-go area on map):
  
• route planner makes detours around the no-go areas:
  
• to delete a no-go area, tap the … menu:
  
• the route without detours:
  

Available with LoRouter only
Route planner marks potentially dangerous places on the route (challenging terrain, heavy traffic, barriers, tunnels, unprotected railway crossings, and so on). They are specific for each routing profile, e.g. cobblestones are marked as a “demanding surface” when using a road bike profile. If a warning concerns entire sections of the route, e.g., challenging surfaces or heavy road traffic, it also has a zonal variant:

Warnings are displayed on the route on the map. During navigation along the route, the symbols also appear under the main navigation window:

If you tap on any warning symbol on the map, a list of all warnings on the route opens, sorted by distance. The length is also displayed for zonal sections. By tapping, you center the selected place or section on the map.
Warnings are also accessible from the route menu:

If you changed your mind and you want to use a different activity for a part of the planned route, OR the automatically drawn segment doesn't suit your purposes, you can have it recalculated:

• tap the selected segment point on the map or in the itinerary
• tap recalculate and select another activity
• confirm:
  

You can also recalculate the whole planned route for a different activity:

• plan or open a route
• open the drawing mode selector and choose a new routing profile
• tap Recalculate all:
  

Available only with Premium Gold

Locus Map can create your round trip automatically, based on defined distance and direction.

• place the starting point on the map and tap Suggest a new round trip in the route menu
  
• select activity or means of transport (service is provided by GraphHopper only)
  
• set direction and distance
  
• tap GENERATE
  

This command quickly reverses the whole route and recalculates its stats - elevation gain, ETA, etc.

• quick check the distance, estimated time on the route, and the elevation gain - see the bottom bar. The ETT is just approximate.
• elevation chart - Available only with Premium slides up when you tap the chart button:
  
  Tap the chart to see the position on the route on the map.
• way types and surfaces - Available only with Premium Gold further help to fine-tune your route. They are displayed only when LoRouter is set up. Detailed progress of way types along the route is under the ? button:
  
  Also the surfaces are ordered in a detailed list:
  
  

  The chart dynamically changes according to your route edits (adding points, moving them…)

• check more details about the route - Route menu > Route detail:
  
• Tools:
  
• Weather - forecast for the route for 16 days ahead
• Compute area - area covered by the route
• Estimated travel time:
  
  Detailed time prediction. You can select the route activity - 3 types of walk, 9 types of bike and 3 of cross-country skiing.

You can start navigation along the planned route or guidance right from the route planner:

• open route menu
• tap Navigation/guidance
  
• select the option you need and set additional parameters:
  

You can quickly share a URL of the planned unsaved route. The shared data contains only shaping points, waypoints and the routing profile and the resulting route is generated on web.locusmap.app.

When you are done with all edits, save your route!

• tap the saving button in the topbar:
  
• route saving dialog opens:
  
• add name of the route (optional - Locus usually inserts names of the route start/end places automatically)
• add description (optional)
• set activity - good for overall statistics
• select folder - tell Locus Map where to store the route
• set style - color, thickness, pattern… Usually, it is not necessary, the folder style is pre-selected.
• tap SAVE

If you are dissatisfied with your planning or for whatever reason you want to abort all planning, tap Clear planner in the route menu:

Route menu contains a submenu of setting options:

Here you can set the color, width, pattern and other graphical aspects of the route line:

so you can re-plan the route:

By default, route planner retains your unsaved plan and offers to continue your work on it when restarted:

If you want a new route plan each time you use the planner, uncheck the option.

To turn off adding shaping points by tapping the map screen, uncheck this option.

Do you want to measure area of your property? Check this option in the menu (or long-press the distance box in the bottom bar), Locus will color the area on map and display the area value in the bottom bar:

Here you can define the action after long-pressing the + button for adding points:

When this option is checked, the route is created from viapoints only:

With this option checked, you can add points with navigation commands or change shaping/via points into them:

When turned on (default) the manually entered segments are excluded from the route recalculation.

If you don't need them on the route planner screen turn them off (you can still zoom in/out by pinching or double-tapping/shifting).

A convenient tool especially for those with weaker eyes - the magnifier always emerges when you move any part of the route.

Tracks can be turned into routes when they are intended for navigation or guidance:

• select a track in My library or tap it on the map
• select Navigate or Guide On or Guide On reverse
• more about navigation along a route >>
• more about guidance along a route >>

Visit web.locusmap.app or read more info >>